Lady Titans finish rough season, look to the future

Olympus’ Taygin Dehart competes for the ball in a game against Kearns earlier this season. Dehart is one of numerous underclassmen who gained valuable experience this season. (Photo/Ellis Hunsaker)

While their boys team counterpart is enjoying an immensely successful season, it’s been a different story for the Olympus girls basketball team.

Entering its final regular season game at home against East on Feb. 13 (after our press deadline), Olympus was looking for its first Region 6 victory of the season and was hoping to pick up its second win overall. At 0-9 in league play and 1-19 overall, the Titans have struggled against the competition.

Olympus picked up its lone win of the season Dec. 18 at Cottonwood, scoring a 47-42 victory. The Titans followed that victory with 12 straight losses, most of which were lopsided.

Still, Olympus had some solid moments. The team was competitive Jan. 23 at home against Murray. In that contest, the Titans led 13-12 at the end of the first quarter and trailed just 27-24 at halftime and 35-33 at the end of the third quarter. Murray outscored Olympus 20-15 in the decisive fourth quarter to pull out the win. Sophomore Maddie Erickson and Junior Taygin Dehart played well in defeat, scoring 13 points and 12 points, respectively. The team also collected 10 steals in the close loss.

“We were scrappy,” said head coach Whitney Hunsaker. “We were little and young, so we just had to be willing to fight and just be all over the place.”

More recently, on Feb. 2 at home against West, Olympus had good quarters in periods one and four. In those two quarters, each team scored a combined 27 points. Unfortunately for the Titans, West went on a 42-22 run in the second and third quarters. The result was a 69-49 victory for West. Junior Kayli O’Brien led the team with 13 points, and Dehart had 11 points and seven rebounds.

Though it’s been a tough year for the Olympus girls, all hope is not lost. There’s reason for optimism at the school and with the program, as the Titans will return their top six scorers next season. Dehart leads the way this season with a 7.4 average, followed by sophomore Jane Frederick at 6.2 points per game. O’Brien averaged 4.6 points per game, and Emma Marchant contributed 4.5 points an outing. Also back next year will be Jackie Soltis (4.2 points per game) and Erickson (3.8 points per game). Dehart and Frederick were also first and second on the team in rebounds at more than four a game apiece.

Six other Olympus players who saw action this season were freshmen, sophomores and juniors, meaning the Titans will have a wealth of experience coming back in 2018–19.